Latest News
Decolonizing Child Welfare Webinar Learning Series #3 – Feb 25, 2022
Webinar #3 focuses on the ongoing services we provide when protection concerns have been verified and when a family’s file remains open to our Child and Family Wellbeing teams.
- Why do cases stay open for longer-term services?
- How do we make decisions about whether a family’s file should remain open?
- Why do some cases go to court? How is the decision to go to court made?
Please join us to hear about how we seek to empower families to reach their goals, how we connect families and children to external and internal supports, healing services and how we decide when a child and family wellbeing case is ready to be closed
This event has passed, please find the recording: https://youtu.be/G_SwB9wgbc4
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
You’re Invited: Decolonizing Child Welfare Webinar Learning Series – December 13th
Webinar #2 of our Learning Series focuses on the most important decisions made in child welfare arising from the Intake and Assessment process.
Please join us to explore how Child and Family Wellbeing teams respond to concerns about the safety of children and how we connect families and children to early interventions, holistic healing, and prevention services that lessen the need for intrusive child welfare interventions and keep children safe. Attend the discussion to hear how we ensure that families stay together and are safely supported with culture and community.
This event has passed, please find the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgFUgGQF13M
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Announcement from Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (NCFST) and Peel Children’s Aid Society (Peel CAS)
Native Child and Family Services of Toronto and Peel CAS are pleased to announce a new agreement to provide culturally appropriate Child and Family Well-Being (child welfare) and Holistic (prevention services) supports for Indigenous children, youth, and families in Peel Region.
We are taking this important step as part of our commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Calls to Action with respect to child welfare. It is our goal to ensure that Indigenous children, youth, and families have access to culturally appropriate services provided by an Indigenous agency. Currently there are no Indigenous child welfare agencies operating in Peel. NCFST will work in collaboration with Peel CAS to fill this gap.
Peel CAS and NCFST have recently established a formal agreement between our organizations, so that children in the care of Peel CAS who identify as Indigenous can be referred and/or transferred to NCFST. This includes Indigenous children and youth who are transferring to Peel from other jurisdictions. NCFST offers a multitude of culturally grounded support services that work to enhance the resurgence of Indigenous identity and well-being.
Through important agreements like this we are honouring the TRC’s calls to action and the right to self-determination. As we continue to build this relationship, we are working together to ensure that Indigenous children, youth, and families in Peel receive services that best meet their needs and preserve their cultural connections.
Quotations
“As a culturally grounded agency centred in Indigenous worldviews, we are honoured to walk in relationship with Peel CAS to provide culturally appropriate services to Indigenous children and families in the Peel region. This agreement represents another important step towards ensuring that all Indigenous children and families in Ontario have access to programs and services that are led and delivered by Indigenous agencies.” – Dr. Jeffrey Schiffer, Executive Director, NCFST
“At Peel CAS we are proud to support the diverse communities in our region through a variety of culturally responsive service models that help improve outcomes for the children, youth and families we work with. We are grateful for this new agreement with NCFST, which will expand and build upon the work we have been doing with local Elders and Indigenous organizations to assist with providing culturally appropriate supports to First Nations, Inuit and Métis families. We look forward to working together to build a better future for the children, youth and families we serve.” – Rav Bains, CEO, Peel CAS.
Dr. Jeffrey Schiffer
Executive Director, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
Rav Bains
Chief Executive Officer, Peel Children’s Aid Society
For media inquiries please contact:
Freida Gladue,
Manager of Communications and Culture
Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
437-244-2816
[email protected]
Alicia Land,
Communications Consultant
Peel Children’s Aid Society
905-363-6131 x 1157
[email protected]
Decolonizing Child Welfare Webinar Learning Series – Recording
Thank you to everyone who joined us on October 29th in the first of our Decolonizing Child Welfare Webinar Learning Series.
In this webinar we discussed the history of NCFST in relation to its provincial child welfare mandate, provided an overview of the core interventions and services that are offered from referral to case closure and we told the story of our efforts to provide prevention and early intervention to mitigate the harms caused by colonial child welfare services.
Miigwetch to our host and panelists:
- Terri Jaffe, Senior Supervisor, Aboriginal Cultural Program Liaison;
- Vivian Roy, Knowledge Keeper;
- Kenn Richard, Founder and Director of Special Projects;
- Jeffrey Schiffer, Executive Director;
- Mark Atanasoff, Director of Quality Assurance and Decolonization.
Webinars in this learning series will be recorded and posted as the series evolves to be available to the community and the families we serve.
Below is the recorded webinar available for viewing.
Decolonizing Child Welfare Webinar Learning Series – Oct 29 @ 2 PM
Please join us as we launch the first Child Welfare Webinar Learning Series.
This launch will consist of an overview of the child welfare system and the role of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. We will look at the child welfare systems in the historical injustices against Indigenous children and families and the impact of the resulting intergenerational trauma.
The Webinar will explain the history of NCFST in relation to its provincial child welfare mandate, provide an overview of the core interventions and services that are offered from referral to case closure and tell the story of our efforts to provide prevention and early intervention to mitigate the harms caused by colonial child welfare services.
Webinars in this Learning Series will be recorded and posted on the NCFST website as the series evolves to be available to the community and the families we serve.
This event has passed, please find the recording: https://youtu.be/GAixoLSpaAU
Decolonizing Child Welfare Webinar Panel September 30, 2021
Thank you to the 1246 individuals who joined us today in our discussion on what Indigenous child welfare could look like in five years. Today, we announced our commitment to open a new chapter in our ongoing work and vision of transforming child welfare.
Read the full announcement here.
Miigwetch to our host Bob Goulais and the panelists:
- Jocelyn Formsma, Executive Director, National Association of Friendship Centres;
- Irwin Elman, Former Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth;
- Pat Green, Traditional Knowledge Keeper;
- Micheal Miller, Executive Director, Association of Native Child and Family Services Agencies of Ontario
- Jeffrey Schiffer, Executive Director, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
For those not in attendance on Sept 30th, the recorded webinar is now available to watch.
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